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Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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New Living Translation

Psalms 88:10

Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Dead (People);   Death;   Hades;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Rephaim;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Hades;   Sheol;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Giants;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Fall;   Rephaim;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ezrahite;   Heman;   Korah, Korahites;   Prayer;   Priests and Levites;   Psalms;   Rephaim;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Mahalath;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Hell;   Korah;   Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Death;   Decease, in the Old Testament and Apocyphra;   Rephaim;   Sheol;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eye;   Resurrection;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
Will You do wonders for the dead?Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Will You perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wylt thou worke a miracle amongst the dead? or shal the dead rise vp againe [and] acknowledge thee? Selah.
Darby Translation
Wilt thou do wonders to the dead? shall the shades arise and praise thee? Selah.
New King James Version
Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You?Selah
Literal Translation
For will You do wonders for those dying? Or shall the departed spirits rise and thank You? Selah.
Easy-to-Read Version
Do you do miracles for the dead? Do ghosts rise up and praise you? No! Selah
World English Bible
Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Selah.
King James Version (1611)
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shal the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
King James Version
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Doest thou shewe wonders amonge the deed? Can the physicias rayse them vp agayne, that they maye prayse the?
THE MESSAGE
class="psalm-title"> A Korah Prayer of Heman God , you're my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you. Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I'm in. I've had my fill of trouble; I'm camped on the edge of hell. I'm written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case. Abandoned as already dead, one more body in a stack of corpses, And not so much as a gravestone— I'm a black hole in oblivion. You've dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss. I'm battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger. You turned my friends against me, made me horrible to them. I'm caught in a maze and can't find my way out, blinded by tears of pain and frustration. I call to you, God ; all day I call. I wring my hands, I plead for help. Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you? Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell? Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory? I'm standing my ground, God , shouting for help, at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak. Why, God , do you turn a deaf ear? Why do you make yourself scarce? For as long as I remember I've been hurting; I've taken the worst you can hand out, and I've had it. Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; I'm bleeding, black-and-blue. You've attacked me fiercely from every side, raining down blows till I'm nearly dead. You made lover and neighbor alike dump me; the only friend I have left is Darkness.
Amplified Bible
Will You perform wonders for the dead? Shall the departed spirits arise and praise You? Selah.
American Standard Version
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall they that are deceased arise and praise thee? Selah
Bible in Basic English
Will you do works of wonder for the dead? will the shades come back to give you praise? (Selah.)
Update Bible Version
Will you show wonders to the dead? Shall those that are deceased arise and praise you? Selah.
Webster's Bible Translation
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise [and] praise thee? Selah.
New English Translation
Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
Contemporary English Version
Do you work miracles for the dead? Do they stand up and praise you?
Complete Jewish Bible
my eyes grow dim from suffering. I call on you, Adonai , every day; I spread out my hands to you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Wilt thou shewe a miracle to the dead? or shall the dead rise and prayse thee? Selah.
George Lamsa Translation
Behold thou wilt show wonders to the dead; the mighty ones shall rise and praise thee.
Hebrew Names Version
Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Selah.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Mine eye languisheth by reason of affliction;
New Life Bible
Will You show Your great works to the dead? Will the dead rise and praise You?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Wilt thou work wonders for the dead? or shall physicians raise them up, that they shall praise thee?
English Revised Version
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall they that are deceased arise and praise thee? Selah
Berean Standard Bible
Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
New Revised Standard
Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For the dead, wilt thou perform a wonder? Or shall, the shades, arising, give thee thanks? Selah.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(87-11) Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee?
Lexham English Bible
Do you work wonders for the dead? Or do the departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah
English Standard Version
Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
New American Standard Bible
Will You perform wonders for the dead? Or will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah
New Century Version
Do you show your miracles for the dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you? Selah
Good News Translation
Do you perform miracles for the dead? Do they rise up and praise you?
Christian Standard Bible®
Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whethir thou schalt do merueils to deed men; ether leechis schulen reise, and thei schulen knouleche to thee?
Young's Literal Translation
To the dead dost Thou do wonders? Do Rephaim rise? do they thank Thee? Selah.
Revised Standard Version
Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee? [Selah]

Contextual Overview

10 Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude 11 Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love? Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction? 12 Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds? Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness? 13 O Lord , I cry out to you. I will keep on pleading day by day. 14 O Lord , why do you reject me? Why do you turn your face from me? 15 I have been sick and close to death since my youth. I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors. 16 Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me. Your terrors have paralyzed me. 17 They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long. They have engulfed me completely. 18 You have taken away my companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Wilt thou: The interrogations in these verses imply the strongest negations. Psalms 6:5, Psalms 30:9, Psalms 115:17, Psalms 118:17, Isaiah 38:18, Isaiah 38:19, Mark 5:35, Mark 5:36

shall: Job 14:7-12, Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Luke 7:12-16, 1 Corinthians 15:52-57

Reciprocal: Job 26:6 - destruction Psalms 143:7 - unto them Ecclesiastes 9:5 - the dead Ecclesiastes 9:10 - for John 4:49 - come

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?.... The Lord does show wonders to some that are spiritually dead, dead in Adam, dead in law, dead in trespasses and sins, by quickening them; whereby the wonders of his grace and love, and of his power, and the exceeding greatness of it, are displayed; for the conversion and quickening of a dead sinner is a marvellous event, like that of; raising Lazarus from the dead, and causing Ezekiel's dry bones to live: likewise the Lord will show wonders to those that are corporeally dead, by raising them from the dead; which work, though not incredible, yet is very wonderful, and can only be accounted for by the attributes of Divine Omniscience and Omnipotence: yea, he would, and he has shown wonders to Christ, when dead, by raising him up again, and giving him glory, and that before he saw corruption, and as the head and representative of his people; and by raising many of the saints also, after his resurrection:

shall the dead arise and praise thee? the spiritually dead, when they are made alive, and rise out of their graves of sin, praise the Lord for the exertion of his grace and power upon them; which is one end of their being formed anew, quickened, and converted; and those that are corporeally dead, such of them as shall rise again to everlasting life, their mouths will be filled with everlasting praise: but here the author of the psalm suggests, that in a little time he should be among the dead, unless he had speedy help and deliverance from his troubles; to whom wonders are not shown, but to the living; and who ordinarily do not rise again to this mortal state, to praise the Lord in it: or, considering them as the words of Christ, he suggests, that none of the above things would be done, unless he was a conqueror over death and the grave, and was raised from thence himself; and so these expostulations carry in them the nature of a prayer, even of the prayer of Christ, as man, to be assisted in overcoming all his enemies, and to be raised from the dead, as Cocceius and others think: the Greek and Vulgate Latin versions are,

"shall physicians rise again?''

of whom the Jews had a bad opinion; :-.

Selah. :-.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? - The wonders - or the things suited to excite admiration - which the living behold. Shall the dead see those things which here tend to excite reverence for thee, and which lead people to worship thee? The idea is that the dead will be cut off from all the privileges which attend the living on earth; or, that those in the grave cannot contemplate the character and the greatness of God. He urges this as a reason why he should be rescued. The sentiment here is substantially the same as in Psalms 6:5. See the notes at that passage. Compare Isaiah 38:18.

Shall the dead arise and praise thee? - The original word, here rendered “the dead,” is Rephaim - רפאים rephâ'iym. On its meaning, see the notes at Isaiah 14:9. It means, properly, relaxed, languid, feeble, weak; and is then applied to the dead - the shades - the Manes - dwelling in the under-world in Sheol, or Hades, and supposed to be as shades or shadows, weak and feeble. The question here is not whether they would rise to live again, or appear in this world, but whether in Sheol they would rise up from their resting places, and praise God as men in vigor and in health can on the earth. The question has no reference to the future resurrection. It relates to the supposed dark, dismal, gloomy, inactive state of the dead.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 88:10. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead! — מתים methim, dead men.

Shall the dead — רפאים rephaim, "the manes or departed spirits."

Arise and praise thee? — Any more in this life? The interrogations in this and the two following verses imply the strongest negations.


 
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